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Any tips for buying clothes that fit?
First post! This may be a silly thing to ask but whenever I try clothes at the shop it feels fine but after a few days there's always some little things that nagged me (like shirt that's sticky or pants got a bit tight if I walk or sit weird). I rarely buy new clothes so likely just lacking in experience. In case it's relevant, I'm male, skinny and has large hip.
Not male/masculine-presenting, but I am fairly picky about clothing fit. Also, not a silly question!
Here are a few things I think about, which may help you. I've tried to frame them using somewhat gender/body/style-neutral explanations, but I'm sure I've accidentally introduced some personal biases!
Move when trying on clothing: Don't go so far as to stretch out the clothing you haven't bought yet, but for tops, cross your arms, and lift them up: Does the shirt pull up too much? Does it limit range of motion too much? For pants/shorts (and skirts/dresses!), bend at the knees, bend over at the waist. Too tight/loose? Does the garment pull up/down too much?
Find styles (and even brands) you find work for your body: There are some styles I've simply learned to avoid because they never feel great on my body. Similarly, certain brands tend to be cut differently (narrower vs. wider; longer vs. shorter); finding brands that work for you will make shopping a little easier. This seems like it might be the question you most wanted advice on, but it's also the one I think is most personal (and not having your body type, I'm probably very unqualified to help with), and comes with practice.
One thing that might help you ID what is/isn't working is to "shop" your current wardrobe for items you love or dislike. Focus in on the details, and ask yourself: What about this cut do I like? What do I dislike? What feels good/bad?
Pay attention to materials: This is a big one for me.
First, because after wearing clothing for a few hours, some materials can stretch out and change the fit slightly but importantly; this can be either a benefit or a detriment depending on the material (example: some jeans can stretch at the knees, which isn't great; but, buying jeans that I suspect will strategically stretch around the hips/waist means they end up fitting better after a wear or two!).
Second, because softer/stretchier materials can impact the drape and movement as you move around in real life; alternatively, thicker, structured materials can fit against your form in a way you may feel benefits your silhouette (think: structured suit jacket). As an example, I dislike really stretchy jeans; other people love them. It's personal! :)
Third, materials can impact the 'polish' of a garment throughout the day, both in terms of moisture retention/breathability, and wrinkling. I personally focus on buying clothing items that are a high percentage 'natural' material. Wool and linen don't retain much moisture. Linen is cool, but wrinkles like mad (linen blends can solve this a bit!). Cotton, linen, and wool are great for reducing odours. Silk can have a beautiful drape.
Fourth (finally!), prep and care for your clothing: Ironing or steaming trousers and button-ups before wearing can take a look from ok to snazzy. Knowing how to wash and dry materials can keep them feeling new, crisp, and fitted for MUCH longer (in fact, I hang-dry almost all of my clothing on a rack), while also preventing the dreaded dryer-shrinkage!
Getting familiar with brands and materials is such an important part of maintaining a successful wardrobe for me.
There’s unfortunately clothing that just doesn’t work out and you find out after wearing and washing a few times. Maybe it wrinkles too much, maybe the fit isn’t on par with our other clothing.
I try to take note of the clothing I like. What the size, cut and brand is. How does the material feel when I touch it. How did it look when I bought at the store?
If it’s wrinkled on the hanger at the store, it’ll be toilet paper after you wash it—same if it has a paper like feel.
So, a disclaimer, what "fits" in fashion has changed drastically over history and the way clothes are worn and what's considered good looking has evolved, so any guide on fit should be considered a general rule of the time, not a cardinal absolute law. That said...
Some very basic tips for general fit:
Shirts:
Shoulders: When you're wearing a shirt, where do the shoulder seams land on your body? Feel your arm, find where your shoulder bone and upper arm meet. You want a shoulder seam to hit right on top of the end of that shoulder bone.
Arm length: A shirt with long sleeves should come down to cover the wrist bone when your arm is hanging at your side. It should be long enough to cover your wrist but not so long it covers the base of your thumb. Short sleeves afford more flexibility, but a common goal to aim for is the narrow part of the upper arm right before the bicep.
Size: How much space around your body are you looking for? You don't want to swim in it but you don't want it so tight it shows every fold. For structured fabrics, like a cotton button down shirt, it should follow the general shape of your body. Even shirts with a loose fit should sit well and drape on your shoulders and chest but not obscure the presence of your torso underneath. You should have room to move and bend with all buttons closed without the fabric straining.
Pants:
For long pants, the length should hit the top of your foot in your shoe. Beyond that most of what fits is based on feel. Can you button them comfortably? Do they fit around your hips and waist without pinching? Are you able to bend, kneel or squat? They should be the smallest size you can wear that doesn't restrict your movement, is comfortable, and doesn't slip down over your rear when you sit. There's also flexibility here in whether you want to play with style, with skinny, relaxed or regular fits.
I know OP was asking about masculine clothing, but these work for feminine clothes too. The biggest factor that changes is feminine clothing has way more flexibility in sleeve or pant lengths and a lot more stretchy fabrics.
Dresses:
A dress should follow the rule for the shoulder seams if it has them, and should fit snugly at the bosom while draping over the torso. If it has a high ("empire") waist, it should sit beneath the breasts. Skirt length is totally up to you and what you want, but it should not ride up or overly constrict your movement. If it has a kick flap, make sure it is not still sewn shut! A lot of manufacturers sew the open part in the back or side of a skirt shut at the bottom to keep the drape right but it's NOT intended to be worn that way, same for pockets that might be sewn shut. Beyond that, make sure it can be zipped up and you can move comfortably without ripping anything. Stretchy fabrics give a lot of leeway but shouldn't be strained.
I just really love clothes.
I hate shopping for clothes with a burning passion. None of the 'off the rack' stuff in the chain stores fits me properly. I really should look at more tailored clothing and pay a bit more to look a lot better 😂.
However, the working class in me is horrified by the thought, and the (now) middle class lifestyle in me hates everything in my wardrobe. If I could just wear binbags with two armholes it would make me eternally happy.
Forgot to add the tip! Go for tailored clothing. It's like an episode from The Simpsons;
Karl: No no no. Stand naturally, Mr. Simpson. Let it all hang out. {to the tailor} You! Conceal it.
As much as I just wrote a very long response about clothing fit.. I feel this. I also kind of hate clothing shopping. Probably because I'm picky and not model-shaped, and it can be SO frustrating.
I honestly respect and envy people who figure out a "uniform" that works for them, and then buy, like, 5 of each item in a different colour.
Do the tailored clothes, and then most importantly do not buy any more clothes you do not need. Especially “disposable” fashion.
The fashion industry is the single most wasteful industry on the planet, with two of every three articles produced each year unsold. It’s an environmental and humanitarian disaster. Participate in it as little as you can manage.
I'm a guy. I tailor my own shirts. I look for something that either fits or is slightly too big in the chest. The shoulders must fit and the length of the sleeves must fit as well. Then I sew up the sides and sometimes the arms to bring the shirt in. If it only needs to be brought in around the waist a bit I'll pin the back in on the left and right if the spine down in inner lats and sew that to bring it in about an inch or so. If it needs more than that then i sew up the sides.
Updoot for fitted clothing, and a story:
Somewhere about the middle of my career, I was working as an IT consultant, subcontracting specialized work from a much larger firm with a very short name.
One day, as I was "borrowing" space in their boardroom before a client-facing meeting, my contact poked his head in the room and said "Hey, Handshape... our suit guy is in today. Do you have a suit guy?"
I had no idea what a suit guy even was, but boy did I learn. He's a travelling rep for a Hong Kong "made to measure" tailoring firm that takes your measurements, goes through fabric and style options, and makes recommendations.
It took three weeks, but the clothes that arrived were perfect. I'd never conceived that I could look that good and be that comfortable. It was not cheap, but also not as expensive as I expected. The bit that cemented it for me was the look on my wife's face the first time I tried it on.
For many items, tailoring is quite affordable when amortized over the life of the item.
If you’re lazy like me and don’t want to go to the tailor every time you buy a button down, I found a brand whose style I like and whose clothes tend to fit me without alteration. My daily wardrobe is probably 50% or more items from that brand. Now, that said, it took quite a bit of trial and error to find said brand.
The other thing to keep in mind, especially with cheaper brands, is that they tend to have poor quality control. You can go buy 5 pairs of cheap jeans that are the same SKU, but they will have notable differences. So, if you are trying them on in person, you can hunt for the pair that fits you the best.
When you buy shirts or pants at a shop, try on every single article that you plan to buy. For example, if you try on a shirt and find it fits well, so you decide to get multiples, you should try on every single one of them; don't trust that they will all be identical.
The reason they can vary is because clothing factories stack up the cloth and cut many pieces simultaneously. However, the fabric stack can warp while it is being cut, causing some pieces to end up slightly different sizes and shapes. (For a demonstration, fold up a sheet of paper several times and then cut a shape out of it. The shapes you cut won't be perfectly identical.)
One thing that helped me a lot was learning basic tailoring for normal shirts. Anything fancy I’d certainly take somewhere, but you can get a cheap sewing machine on Amazon and learn basic shirt tailoring on YouTube.
I just made a template out of poster board from that one shirt that fits perfectly, and anything I buy just gets taken in to match that fit. Game changer for me as a guy with broad shoulders since every shirt off the rack fits like a trash bag.
As others have stated, certain brands lean towards specific shapes and body types. It helps to figure out what you like and identify brands or stores that cater to the look(s) you want. For example, YoungLA works well for men with stocky or muscular builds. Uniqlo's clothes tend to create a boxy/square silhouette. Bonobos has additional fit options specifically catered to narrow or slim fit.
Knowing your proportions also helps. Maybe you have to buy shirts and pants from different places due to the different measurements on the top half of your body vs. the lower half. If your torso is longer than your legs, then going for shorter sleeved shirts or tucked in styles can even things out. Fashion do's and dont's like this tailor's blog are helpful, but I don't agree with everything they say. What's more important is your comfort and that you like the way you look!
I am (incidentally) masc-presenting and I have had a lot of issues finding pants that fit proper, I struggle to find a pant with enough butt that doesn't have too big of a waist while also having enough, er, inseam. Always loathed the feel and look of jeans and khakis, any cut.
Since my first pair of chino pants, I haven't looked back. They're usually a cotton spandex blend (like 3% tops spandex) so they've got some give. They'll stretch a bit faster than a typical jean or khaki, but it isn't significant with a proper fit and laundering. They feel soft and come in a wide range of colors too! I don't have a particular brand recommendation, the last pairs I bought were some cheapies off Amazon and were pretty inconsistent in sizing (I got the last of one color and it clearly had substantial "bottom of the stack" stretching compared to the others).
They aren't a perfect solution, but, in my opinion, they're far better for casual wear than the alternatives. I think I've accepted that, due to my proportions, only tailored pants will actually fit me proper about the waist-butt-crotch.
Clothes don’t have to fit off the rack. When I had a courthouse job and had to wear a tie every day, I got a lot of shirts on sale from Men’s Wearhouse. They got okay but were good quality. Found a tailor. Cost like $7 a shirt to get fitted. Took average looking shirts to custom looking shirts overnight.
Needed up taking every dress shirt I had to her to get fitted.
The biggest thing for me was trying on many, many different styles and sizes at thrift stores. It's common for some fashion fad to be absurd on a wide range of bodies (crop tops? I'm middle-aged, curvy, and no amount of fitness is going to make that look good on me). "Outdated" styles or different tailoring can make a world of difference.
You can get a good sense for what styles and cuts makes you feel comfortable and confident before you commit to the cost of new clothing.
The absolute best thing you can do is get a sewing machine and take some basic classes (or watch videos) on how to alter clothing. Being able to shorten the hem on pants, take in the waist of a dress, etc is invaluable. You can find them cheap on the second hand market, and can practice on scrap fabric to get comfortable.
Finding brands that work for you is great too, and knowing what works in general, but that's sometimes not the best option for me - I'm short, high waisted, and have a big ass. Reformation fits me really well, but they often make their dresses in a midi length that doesn't work for me unless it's a body con dress so if there's a dress I really love, I'll hem it to knee length. I did a session with a local designer who went through my wardrobe and dissected what worked on me and why, identified gaps, and took me on a personal shopping trip to find local shops & brands that worked for me. If you can do something similar, I highly recommend it.
There are loads of good YouTube guides on self-tailoring. I haven't tried it yet, but it's definitely on my list of hobbies to hyperfocus on one bored weekend. Plus, learning a sewing machine seems like a really valuable skill.
This is a very timely question! There is one company in particular that is plastering ads for shirts everywhere online. I haven't tried them, but the consensus seems to be that they do fit well but are made of terrible fabric that doesn't hold up well.
This seems to be a question that a lot of people (men in particular?) are struggling with right now, and there is certainly a lot of desire out there to find some solutions! I'm looking forward to all of your responses.
I'm curious.. Ive heard a sentiment for many years that women's clothing is, on average, of poorer quality than men's, at a given price. So, women have been 'forced' to be discerning of markers of quality.
Your comment has me wondering, do you feel men's clothing 'catching up' in terms of poorer quality, and that's causing this struggle? Or were you moreso referring to shifting expectations of stylishness for men?
Wow, I am in love with the depth of conversation on Tildes compared to, well, everywhere else!
I'm thinking of the shift in men's stylishness. It seems that everybody at work and in my family are talking about these new (incredibly ad-supported) t-shirt brands that are cut to hide men's bellies and accentuate their biceps. I don't ever remember a time when this was just so pervasive. I've heard about one brand about four times from different people in the past two weeks!
I should mention that I'm Canadian, so any Europeans reading this are probably confused because men have tons of style options! But my understanding of men's clothing is that it, for the most part, includes baggy, overly large t-shirts with ill-fitting jeans and that's about the extent of it. It seems that the marketing people out there are catching into this finally.
Of course, this is all anecdotal, and I've been getting more interested in getting into shape, so who knows how much of my perception is influenced by web browsing algorithms.
I'd highly recommend watching a few youtube creators that specifically talk about style and the fit of clothing. If you don't know what you like or if you're buying things that you end up disliking later, I think this is a good place to start. I would recommend checking out a video like this since he talks specifically about the fit of clothes or find something similar if you don't enjoy his style. Look at how clothes fit other people and decide if you want to dress similarly. By doing your research and researching how things should fit and what it looks like on people who already have a confident sense of style, you'll be able to more easily replicate what you're trying to achieve. I also find it easier to shop for things when the creator has a similar body type - more often than not, fashion youtubers will tell you the products they're buying and you'll have some reasonable certainty that you will like the way it looks before you even make your purchase.
Doesn't seem like a silly question to me! I've definitely had an annoyingly large share of times I wear an item once, maybe twice, then never again because it's a day of discomfort.
I shop for comfort, not style, but I do need to be presentable as I work in an office environment - just so you know where I'm coming from. I loathe clothes shopping so I try and prep to make it as possible as possible. Am I shopping for dress shirts? Wear the dress pants, socks and shoes, even the underclothing I'd wear them with. Bathing suit shopping? Loosest pair of shorts and shirt I own! Hair pulled back and out of the way either way. When I get the clothing on I turn to view it from several angles, making use of any three-piece mirrors around to check the back angles, or if there are none user my phone's camera to look at my reflection in a single mirror from the back.
I will move. Shoulder shrugs, arm crossing, swinging, bending my elbows and raising them up to shoulder height and pushing my arms back and forth a few times, to check for those annoying minor issues as you mentioned that can show up later. I walk around, I stand, I sit and check - do these pants sit uncomfortably when I'm sitting, does this shirt gape between buttons, or tighten to be uncomfortable at the stomach or hips? What is it like tucked vs untucked?
What is the material, what are the care instructions? This silk shirt looks amazing on me in this shot conditioned store, but oh no, between the time I put it on for work and get to work, my sweat has now made two of the immense, obvious, hideously embarrassing circles of moisture that everyone can see. I hate laundry too, so if it's going to shrink or need special care, it's out. Ironing, UGH. I don't even own one, or an ironing board - I loathe the things. I have a handheld clothes steamer, if it might need just the occasional steam, it's in.
Are any buttons or embellishments well attached or are they likely to fall off? Do I love the item enough to more firmly attach those things before wearing it? Or will I tell myself I will, wear it, wear it again, wear it several more times, lose one of those very nice but definitely specially made buttons, and never wear it again but also feel too bad about getting rid of it so just feel guilt every time I reach in the closet for something else and see it sitting there, judging me?
Also, though this is more for women, does the damn thing have pockets, or fake pockets? Fake/no pockets can fuck all the way off.
I still fuck up because I'm amazing at talking myself into "oh it won't be that bad, and it's such a nice piece!" - but I donate my 'bad idea' purchases to a local women's shelter, where hopefully some nice woman with a slightly different shape will score a piece of clothing she wears often and feels comfortable in! Then I don't bear myself up so much for 'wasted money'.
Not sure if discussion about specific brands is frowned upon, but I'm in the market for cheaper alternatives to Bonobos. I can't find anything in stores that fit as nicely as what they offer: small size, slim fit, short length. But a single short-sleeve shirt costs ~$85. That is if it's even in stock.